We don't disagree as much as you might think. I like the idea of the
Euro, too. It's just that it sets the stage to proceed towards more
monotony in other areas. My chief "complaint" about tourists was
hearing how they couldn't grasp the mathematics behind what a French
vs. Swiss Franc was worth... as though it were all so "hard". I like
the Euro because I can pay for things with my German psot office
checks in Italy - but the banks still grab for themselves the fees for
foreign transaction - even though they aren't exchanging money any
more that they have to "buy". I still can't do an online transfer of
Euros from my German account to a Euro account in Spain - the banking
systems are still separated - routing numbers as we have in all US
states are still diverging from country to country. The Euro didn't
solve all the expense problems of doing business between countries, by
any means - and I bet the banks won't be acting too swiftly to merge
systems where they are all participating in a widened domestic
"Euro-zone" system. The "nuisance" individual currencies was a major
factor that makes Europe interesting, especially for many American
tourists - which is a financial consideration for Europeans - albeit a
relatively transparent one. The variety between "close-in" sites
among small countries is is a bigger draw for tourists than I think
most of might imagine. There is no where in the US, for example,
where one can drive from Germany for six or eight hours in have Paris
at your doorstep. An eight hour drive from anywhere in
Kansas, for example, is just more straight roads and farm fields.
Regards
Len
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Peter Hering" <hering@m...> wrote:
> Hi Len,
> and thanks for your comments conc. "US of E",
> frankly I think only few Europeans favor the idea
> of one European state body - American and
> European history are just too different to make
> any comparisons...
> BUT. we also know that a closer cooperation on
> many fields will be necessary:
> Conc. Euro: I totally disagree with you on this subject:
> it might be "exotic" for non-European visitors having
> to use different money while in Europe, but for most
> Europeans, especially for those travelling much, it
> has been a nuisance having to change money all
> the time... not to speak of the trade impediments
> different currencies represent... so personally I LOVE
> the Euro....!
> all the best from Europe
> Peter H.